Krystal, Tillamook, OR. Half of my family is from Europe, the other half is from America–as in, Native Americans. When my great-grandfather passed away, they went through his possessions and found a KKK hood, and I bear that shame to this day. I am sorry for my ancestors and what they did to people based […]

Marilyn Anne Kay Wimberley, TX The year was 1968. We were gathered in the formal dining hall of the sorority house, lit only by candles, for our sorority initiation. All white females dressed in matching white gowns. One of my sorority sisters commented, ‘we look just like the Klan.’ This was at the University of […]

Michael Havis, Brooklyn, NY. I think the word racism no longer defines the conversation we should be having. The image of racism in America is of the KKK or southern slave owners with whips. Being racist and being a good person are not mutually exclusive. Racism today isn’t being a part of lynch mobs or […]

Denise Pierce, Sterling, VA. My grandmother who was born in NC in 1901 and lived to be 105 tried to instill in me a love for my land-owning ancestors who also owned slaves. At 99 she was still quoting from the KKK playbook that taught slaves were lucky to have been brought to America and […]

Mary Lambert Merrick, NY I lived through the Civil Rights Movement. I once walked out of a store in SDouth Bend IN and was confronted with a full scale KKK march. I remember the riots of 1968–I lived in a mixed race neighborhood and we often sat on ourporch and watched the fires buring a […]

Amanda N. Normal, IL I grew up in Texas. I always had people telling me that Caucasian people were better than any other race. Being told that always made me feel guilty. When we learned about the KKK in school I always felt uncomfortable like all of the African Americans were staring at and blaming […]

Eric Peterson, San Francisco, CA. If I tell people I’m white and I’m racist, they might picture someone dressed in white sheets and a pointed hat or donning swastika tattoos. Most white people wouldn’t assume I’m racist based on my behavior and my interactions with people of color, but I know it’s in there. I […]

Feldon Starns, Summerville, SC. I come from a lower middle class family. I was the first to graduate collage in my family. I worked full time at menial jobs and paid for everything myself. No loans, grants, scholarships, or aid. Nothing was given to me. If working inside old fuel tanks in a shipyard is […]

Bart71 Chicago, IL I am who I am. I accept who I am. I love who I am. Black men have jumped over all forms of racism in the past and will continue to jump over them. I know that daily I defy all stereotypes. It makes me stronger. It keeps me on my game. […]

Lawrence R. Bethea Greensboro, NC In 1960 as a young Afro-American child ( 6yrs.old ) growing up in Greensboro,N.C. (home of the civil rights sit-in movement), my mother took me shopping downtown. As we waited on the bus to carry us home, I noticed a large group of men walking down the street in white […]

Nancy H Long Springfield, IL I drove through North Carolina over Memorial Day weekend last year and passed a house with its lawn covered in KKK crossed and Confederate flags. I wanted to stop and take a photo, but I was afraid someone would see and object. I actually feared for my life. It may […]

Alisa Rose Ann Arbor, MI I didn’t know that until recently. My aunt found my grandfather’s robes in a trunk when he died. My grandmother was a little embarrassed. The times have changed in my home town–the KKK is not active anymore that I know of. But the town is still less than 2% African […]

Shannon Paiement Sanford, ME Many people are unaware less than 100 years ago, the KKK was marching through my hometown, discriminating against Franco-American mill workers. Since then, times have greatly improved attitudes towards Franco-Americans however the cycle of poverty continues to affect many families of those connected to mill work. This card is part of […]

Rebekah Porter Birmingham, Al I was an 8 year old white child in the Fall of 1972. In August of that year was the first time I set foot in Alabama, in a small town, home to a white writer who had had cross burned in his front yard. I didn’t know that famous author’s […]

Jim Wallin Lebanon, PA We won’t get “over” race until blacks stop looking for racism. Trust me, you don’t have to look. Saying someone is racist because they say something critical about a black person is ridiculous and devalues the label of “racist”. Whites can never truly understand what being Black is like. I wish […]

Virginia Berthy I come from the combination of an old Alabama-Mississippi family and an old Virginia Family. I do not to my knowledge have an ancestor that did not own slaves before it was outlawed. I am told in back rooms of random family discussion that my great-great-great grandfather was the first white sheriff of […]

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